Can someone please explain in a non-jargon easy to understand way (plain English) what Backward Compatibility is with respect to web design? Thanks.
2007-01-30 07:03:44 · 3 answers · asked by lotus cat 4 in Computers & Internet ➔ Programming & Design
Thanx for the input guys. All your answers were informative with some unique input. Thanx.
2007-01-31 03:23:28 · update #1
Backwards Compatibilty means that the content of your website should be able to be displayed on older version of browsers. For example, if someone is looking at your site with an older version of Netscape (and I mean really old) it may not support style sheets.
2007-01-30 07:15:45 · answer #1 · answered by ironlungzx40oz 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means designing your website so that even people who have older web browsers can read it. In the case of Internet Explorer, that would mean designing your site so that someone with version 5.0 or later can view it.
To put it another way: if you put the latest fancy bells and whistles on your site, and only people with the latest browser can see your content, and people with older browsers see garbage or red boxes or nothing, then your site is NOT backwards compatible.
2007-01-30 15:28:39 · answer #2 · answered by Navigator 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It could also mean ensuring that URLs that have previously existed don't disappear.
As in, google has a link to a doc on your server, but then you upgrade to a new server and change the directory structure, you'll generate a bunch of 404's, which nobody likes.
For apache you can use mod_rewrite to redirect users to the new content.
2007-01-30 15:39:17 · answer #3 · answered by fixedinseattle 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋